How did YOU do it?
I am looking for anyone who has reduced their debts over time.What was the starting amount of your debt?
How much did you reduce your debt?
What steps did you take to reduce that debt?
Did you take drastic measures like cutting up your credit cards or did you do something simple?
Do you use Excel to track your finances or do you use some more sophistacated software like Microsoft Money?
Do you visit frugal websites or did you do it all on your own/
Did you get a financial advisor?
Well I like ING
ING Direct: The Dark Side of Online Banking?
Here is an interesting post I found on ING banking services.
I managed to find everything ING required eventually, but it was painful. I worry about the the poor guy who changes phones, gets divorced, moves, or for some reason manages to lose his account number. I?m sure ING is wonderful ? until you have a problem.
Makeover!
My site has a new look today. The pink tulip thing was a bit too flashy and I think people will take me more seriously with this new FREE theme.
Let me know what you think!
Busy today
I have homework to do for tomorrow so I guess this is all you will see for today.
Last night we had a games night, which is a great way to have some fun with friends for little cost. Everyone had to contribute a few dollars, maybe one or two, and got a full meal out of it.
The games were fun and we left around 12:45 am….and there were still people playing. The only game I got to play was Taboo and every time we play it the answers just get more and more ridiculous.
Biting the Bullet
After staring in confusion at all of the different solutions to reduce debt I have settled on one plan.
Deep breath….and here we go!
- Total my debt.
- Rank in order of highest to lowest interest.
- Cut back on unnecessary spending.
- Pay off highest interest debt before lower interest debt.
I decided to go with this approach because I think it will fit my situation better. I have already added up my debts and assets and I keep track of my finances with Microsoft Money.
A post to relate to
From the revered Get Rich Slowly
Nick writes with a common question:
I am a college student with $8,000 of debt. What is the first step in paying this off?
Debt elimination involves three steps:
- Stop acquiring new debt.
- Establish an emergency fund.
- Implement a debt snowball.
Now, finally a post the broke folks among us can relate to. Now this is a more realistic scenario for me to envision. College student……credit card debt………low income. Now it all makes sense!
Free Tee Shirt
Today I got a free tee shirt from the school. Apparently they are giving free tees to the first 1000 students who get tickets to support the football game in an effort to boost student participation.
This means I get another free tee shirt to add to my ever growing collection of FREE TEE SHIRTS!!!!! Hooray!
Sure it has the school logo or some other reference to the school…but hey it is one more shirt that I did not have to spend money on. Plus I love wearing tee shirts because they are so comfortable.
Improve your credit score
5 steps for improving your credit rating
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- Close out your newest accounts so that you don’t lose your longer credit history.
- Close out accounts slowly over several months.
- Verify that all accounts you’ve closed are reported as “closed by consumer” for the best report.
- Even if creditors offer to raise credit limits, allow yourself only moderate credit limits.
- Keep your balances low and avoid revolving balances
(please note that the 5 steps above were taken from bankrate.com…..my quote maker was not working well when I wrote this post and I do not want to be accused of plaigarism.)
